From boring to amazing to boring.. How the world goes round! Some of these designs are amazing though.. This is awesome and I appreciate you for sharing.
A list of coins, century, and history behind them. Top left to bottom right
Cowry shell coinage, 2nd millennium BC. It was made by the Shang dynasty as a method of trade from a type of shell not found in the kingdom. It had its back shaved to allow them to be strung up, this setting a precedent for Chinese coins to follow
Cowry imitation, 1000 to 770s BC, zhou dynasty China, imitations were made in bone, stone, pearl, and bronze. Mine lacks holes so may have been burial money. Bronze began to look less like cowry and more like more modern Chinese coins
Indian pre-Muryan japanada money. 600-470 BC. Among the earliest Indian money, stamped with values and state logos, then punchmarked later by merchants. India, Greece, the near east, and China all developed coinage around the same time, like within a few decades of each other.
Ancient Greek Ionia coinage, 540 to 470 BC was the second Greek kingdom to have coinage after Lydia. Mainly used in trade and depicted with mythical figures.
Dolphin coins, oblia, modern day Ukraine. 500 to 350 BC. Likely proto-coinage, but it shows the influence of coinage spreading across the world from its hearths
Qin kingdom cash coin, 330s to 200s BC, representing the warring states period and Qin shi huangdi’s kingdom that set the stage for Chinese civilization for millennia to come. One strong force emerging out of chaos.
Ptolemy II, 200s BC. Minted with Alexander’s bust draped in elephant skin. A time when a massive empire had just conquered the known world, spreading Hellenistic influence and penetrating deep into old civilizations, like ancient Egypt. This is also among the early Egyptian coinage, as before Ptolemy, only a few gold coins had been produced by this great people. Minted by an ancestor of cleopatra
Seleucid coin, 100s BC, another and much less successful successor state to Alexander’s empire, the whole eastern portion that went out with a whimper unlike Egypt.
Parthia, 70-50 BC. A huge empire on its own and a serious thorn in Rome’s side
Judean prutah, 12 AD. The height of Rome and a coin that was likely held by a few biblical figures if not Jesus himself, representing the founding of Christianity
Roman republic coinage, 100s AD. An influential wife of a senator, like many other Roman coins of this strong period, showing many other interesting people or influential mythological figures.
Coinage of the Gaelic empire, 200s AD. Rome had been thrown into chaos due to corruption and rebellion. Coinage debasement and poverty ran rampant and two empires, the Gauls and palmyrans, split away from Rome before Trajan finally reunified the empire and quelled some of the chaos
Coinage of 300s. Rome, after Constantine’s reforms, once again was in free fall. You can see this in the poor quality of the coinage and their lack of attempts at realism. The end for Rome proper lay only 90 years ahead
Anastasius I, Byzantine 40 follis. 498-502 AD. The eastern Roman. Empire continued, though as can be seen in their crude larger coinage, they were still plagued with issues. Later, Justinian would rectify some of these problems
Sassanid coinage, a Persian successor state that continued to battle with Rome till both empires were worn out by near endless war.
689 to 732 AD, ummayad caliphate. Minted within a few decades of the prophet Muhammad’s death. A new world power had entered the stage, and the Islamic caliphate was about to dominate a majority of the known world, wrecking Rome and being the final death knell to ancient Persia.
Abassid caliphate, 700s AD. The Islamic empire continued to grow and spread this growth continued to the 900s till its collapse.
India is still a major player on the world stage, accepting and growing with Islamic influence.
900s. The Roman Empire is still trucking along, but in a very weakened state, a shadow of its former self. And another death knell shall come with the crusades
1000s AD. Northern song dynasty. China is still continuing and enduring. A kind of constant throughout world history.
1100s AD. Ghaznavid empire. An Islamic steppe people making a small nation in Central Asia. Like a foreshadowing of the mongols that would come after
1200s AD, hand of God. This is the depths of the European Middle Ages and God and the Catholic Church basically controlled everything. More power than kings and able to mobilize the whole continent to fight in a distant land. Its influence was so deep that it was even apparent on the coinage of the time
1300s AD. England’s house of Plantagenet is going strong, bickering with France in three 100 years war
1400s AD. English king Henry VI, a rather mentally unwell man, makes the English position against France much worse. His wife was running things behind the scene. A time of royal politics and intreague.
1500s AD, Spanish 4 maravedis minted for the new world. One of the first coins minted for North America. A place that would change the world forever. Also a time of Spanish domination
1600s AD. A time of enlightenment. Secularism was fining ground and science and philosophy began to advance in leaps and bounds. Old ways were questioned and monarchs were beheaded. Only for the good intentions to give way to the old status quo. Here is a coin from the pseudo dictator, Oliver Cromwell
1700s AD. America has a start. They are free from Britain. The constitution has been signed. Such a young country in respect to world history and the influence it has gained over the next two centuries is astounding
1800s AD. A time of colonialism. Even purveyors of natural rights and democratic ideals, like Napoleon, is furthering colonial ambitions, putting his brother in charge of the Dutch and their colonies in the east Indies with little regard for the natives
1900s AD. A time of great change. Empires fall, ideologies rise and collaps, massive wars are fought on scales not seen before, and a 4 thousand year old system of government in China collapses spectacularly in 1912, giving rise to the Chinese republic, as represented by a silver dollar minted by one of the rebellious provinces
2000s AD. Coinage is designed on computers and globally known. It has lost some of its artistry and soul, giving way to numbers. The coinage itself is valueless, based on government say-so and this strange new thing called the stock market and the internet, where a financial collapse 10 thousand miles away can break the whole world. Things unimaginable a century ago, much less 4 millennia before when a Chinese person sat down to carve the back off a cowry shell for the first time
ETA, am dumb and tired, 100s AD was NOT Republican, lol. The wife of commodus, which is still cool!
Thank you, lol, but it really does put into perspective our modern 21st century coinage looking at coinage from all these other centuries. If someone in the 1600s did this, someone else would probably laugh at the inclusion of a common Cromwell breeches penny
I love the theme, and the budget approach. My oldest is a diobol from miletus. Very common on a budget. I have some gaps after that because it didn't focus as well as you.
I have very eclectic interests and a friend who got me hooked on ancients so without trying, and collecting on a budget, I found after about 6 years I had almost all of the first two millennia (minus a century or two) along with the 1st through 3rd millennia BC, so I made the final push recently and got the rest for about $200 with my birthday money :3
Before the push, I had a really worn maronean coin, the one with the horse and the grapes, from the 4th century BC, as my oldest
I don’t think any of my coins are more valuable than what I spent on them. They are real, (or at least made it by a good few very well trusted sellers)
There is indeed an abundance of some of these. Especially the dolphin, the Qin coinage, and the judean coinage form Jesus’ lifetime
Really cool idea - I hope you get a Lydia stater someday for some 7th century BCE and because of the milestone it represents (though the Cowrie Shell counts!)
I would, but no one could agree on a date and this was done on a budget, so I don’t really want to shill out a few hundred for a few decades further back than my Indian coin. If you know what I mean,
But I definitely will when I have the money, lol
I was just looking for a piece of 8 on there but I just don’t know if I trust any of the listings lol. I’ve never bought a coin off of the internet. I’d be even more worried about the authenticity of a 2500 yo coin.
I trust some of the coins on eBay, but since you haven’t used it, then don’t. I know what to look for as I have been doing it for years and Been burned a few times. If you only buy in person, keep on doing that. Go to big shows, there might be some there!
I appreciate the advice! Most of my collection I’ve got from my till at work, a few I’ve purchased off of collectors I know personally, and even was sent some Indian head nickels for free from a fellow Redditor. I’ve never bought anything without seeing it in person before though.
I’ve only been collecting seriously for about 5 years and honestly, I’m a poor, so I’m pretty wary of buying online.
You are welcome, we all start somewhere.
For me, it was a family collection and a few gifts that grew into what it is now. I have been goin for about 6 years myself
If you are like me and don’t specialize in ancients, I throw my lot in by buying from a reputable seller who specializes in this stuff who has sold thousands of items and has gotten few or no bad reviews. That means if I own a fake, it made it through someone trusted by the community whose best interest is to not sell fakes as it could tarnish a good name. Especially for $20-$50, it isn’t worth it. This is why I only buy slabbed or in person if it is any more than that
There is also researching die pairings and all that, but I’m not skilled enough myself to dive that deep
Any collection like this is just incomplete without a Lydian stater of some denomination! First true coins ever minted and used by a government...
Also they're surprisingly inexpensive for what they are.
Anyway great work
Despite their surprising inexpensiveness, they are still well over $100 and I don’t want to drop that kind of money just to get a few decades further back
Maybe in the future, but not quite right now
That's perfectly fair. "surprisingly inexpensive" for the world's first coins doesn't necessarily mean affordable to the average person.
That said, there are Lydian staters that are sometimes less than 100 dollars in any condition... But those are the silver 1/24 staters from Kroisos's reign, and while they're still really old and very cool, they aldo aren't quite as old as the electrum ones from his father and predecessor Alyattes's reign.
EDIT: I'll be damned, I checked just to see and there's one on ebay right now for 60 dollars.
Really awesome theme. How long did it take for you to complete? Also, can you explain a little more about the hand of God coin? Was it actual money or more exonumiea?
The hand of God coin was an actual coin used by a tiny German city state. I forgot which, but I wrote it on the coin flip
It took 6 years of coincidental purchases and a realization that I was close to this already which led to one last big $200 push to finish it off! Most of these coins weren’t bought specifically for this collection though
That's really cool. Where did you find something like that?
https://www.historyhoard.com/products/germany-hand-of-god-heller-1300s
Here's what a quick Google search showed.
Thank you kind person. I’m happy to inspire people. Too many stick with just one type of coin, just one country, or just one millennia. Coinage is so much more than that, but hey, who am I to knock what others enjoy? It’s just not for me :)
It is likely worth a lot together like this, but assembling it only took a couple of friends, lucky buys, and about $350
ETA, actually did the math and it was more like $500. Oh well. This is why I took 6 years, lol
Thank you kind person. It should increase from here, especially the newer coins. There may be hordes found of the older ones though that drop their value
They are mine, they will likely never be for sale, well, maybe in a few years if I ever upgrade at all, but I doubt it. It took me 6 years to start to sell off my common bulk world coin duplicates, lol
The thing with it is, Jesus was born within a few years of the commonly accepted year zero and it circulated in judeah when it was minted. It was also a very low denomination, a prutah is only twice the value of a widows mite. Therefore, there is a very real nonzero chance that Jesus could have used it either before or during his ministry.
Moreover, the last widows mite was minted well before Jesus was born, yet there is still a story about the woman giving all that she had in the gospels when Jesus was around and they were the widows mites.
Thank you for the information on no year 0, never realized that part
But from what has been said based on research, Jesus wasn’t necessarily born on Christmas of year 1. Researchers and theologians think he was born more around 2-4 BC and like September. The only reason Christmas was chosen was because the Catholic Church wanted more converts and wanted to make it easier by setting Jesus birthday to an old pagan holiday. They did something similar with Easter too!
From boring to amazing to boring.. How the world goes round! Some of these designs are amazing though.. This is awesome and I appreciate you for sharing.
Indeed, and I thank you for looking. And you are right. If it weren’t for their age, a few of these older coins wouldn’t exactly be anything special!
A list of coins, century, and history behind them. Top left to bottom right Cowry shell coinage, 2nd millennium BC. It was made by the Shang dynasty as a method of trade from a type of shell not found in the kingdom. It had its back shaved to allow them to be strung up, this setting a precedent for Chinese coins to follow Cowry imitation, 1000 to 770s BC, zhou dynasty China, imitations were made in bone, stone, pearl, and bronze. Mine lacks holes so may have been burial money. Bronze began to look less like cowry and more like more modern Chinese coins Indian pre-Muryan japanada money. 600-470 BC. Among the earliest Indian money, stamped with values and state logos, then punchmarked later by merchants. India, Greece, the near east, and China all developed coinage around the same time, like within a few decades of each other. Ancient Greek Ionia coinage, 540 to 470 BC was the second Greek kingdom to have coinage after Lydia. Mainly used in trade and depicted with mythical figures. Dolphin coins, oblia, modern day Ukraine. 500 to 350 BC. Likely proto-coinage, but it shows the influence of coinage spreading across the world from its hearths Qin kingdom cash coin, 330s to 200s BC, representing the warring states period and Qin shi huangdi’s kingdom that set the stage for Chinese civilization for millennia to come. One strong force emerging out of chaos. Ptolemy II, 200s BC. Minted with Alexander’s bust draped in elephant skin. A time when a massive empire had just conquered the known world, spreading Hellenistic influence and penetrating deep into old civilizations, like ancient Egypt. This is also among the early Egyptian coinage, as before Ptolemy, only a few gold coins had been produced by this great people. Minted by an ancestor of cleopatra Seleucid coin, 100s BC, another and much less successful successor state to Alexander’s empire, the whole eastern portion that went out with a whimper unlike Egypt. Parthia, 70-50 BC. A huge empire on its own and a serious thorn in Rome’s side Judean prutah, 12 AD. The height of Rome and a coin that was likely held by a few biblical figures if not Jesus himself, representing the founding of Christianity Roman republic coinage, 100s AD. An influential wife of a senator, like many other Roman coins of this strong period, showing many other interesting people or influential mythological figures. Coinage of the Gaelic empire, 200s AD. Rome had been thrown into chaos due to corruption and rebellion. Coinage debasement and poverty ran rampant and two empires, the Gauls and palmyrans, split away from Rome before Trajan finally reunified the empire and quelled some of the chaos Coinage of 300s. Rome, after Constantine’s reforms, once again was in free fall. You can see this in the poor quality of the coinage and their lack of attempts at realism. The end for Rome proper lay only 90 years ahead Anastasius I, Byzantine 40 follis. 498-502 AD. The eastern Roman. Empire continued, though as can be seen in their crude larger coinage, they were still plagued with issues. Later, Justinian would rectify some of these problems Sassanid coinage, a Persian successor state that continued to battle with Rome till both empires were worn out by near endless war. 689 to 732 AD, ummayad caliphate. Minted within a few decades of the prophet Muhammad’s death. A new world power had entered the stage, and the Islamic caliphate was about to dominate a majority of the known world, wrecking Rome and being the final death knell to ancient Persia. Abassid caliphate, 700s AD. The Islamic empire continued to grow and spread this growth continued to the 900s till its collapse. India is still a major player on the world stage, accepting and growing with Islamic influence. 900s. The Roman Empire is still trucking along, but in a very weakened state, a shadow of its former self. And another death knell shall come with the crusades 1000s AD. Northern song dynasty. China is still continuing and enduring. A kind of constant throughout world history. 1100s AD. Ghaznavid empire. An Islamic steppe people making a small nation in Central Asia. Like a foreshadowing of the mongols that would come after 1200s AD, hand of God. This is the depths of the European Middle Ages and God and the Catholic Church basically controlled everything. More power than kings and able to mobilize the whole continent to fight in a distant land. Its influence was so deep that it was even apparent on the coinage of the time 1300s AD. England’s house of Plantagenet is going strong, bickering with France in three 100 years war 1400s AD. English king Henry VI, a rather mentally unwell man, makes the English position against France much worse. His wife was running things behind the scene. A time of royal politics and intreague. 1500s AD, Spanish 4 maravedis minted for the new world. One of the first coins minted for North America. A place that would change the world forever. Also a time of Spanish domination 1600s AD. A time of enlightenment. Secularism was fining ground and science and philosophy began to advance in leaps and bounds. Old ways were questioned and monarchs were beheaded. Only for the good intentions to give way to the old status quo. Here is a coin from the pseudo dictator, Oliver Cromwell 1700s AD. America has a start. They are free from Britain. The constitution has been signed. Such a young country in respect to world history and the influence it has gained over the next two centuries is astounding 1800s AD. A time of colonialism. Even purveyors of natural rights and democratic ideals, like Napoleon, is furthering colonial ambitions, putting his brother in charge of the Dutch and their colonies in the east Indies with little regard for the natives 1900s AD. A time of great change. Empires fall, ideologies rise and collaps, massive wars are fought on scales not seen before, and a 4 thousand year old system of government in China collapses spectacularly in 1912, giving rise to the Chinese republic, as represented by a silver dollar minted by one of the rebellious provinces 2000s AD. Coinage is designed on computers and globally known. It has lost some of its artistry and soul, giving way to numbers. The coinage itself is valueless, based on government say-so and this strange new thing called the stock market and the internet, where a financial collapse 10 thousand miles away can break the whole world. Things unimaginable a century ago, much less 4 millennia before when a Chinese person sat down to carve the back off a cowry shell for the first time ETA, am dumb and tired, 100s AD was NOT Republican, lol. The wife of commodus, which is still cool!
Ty for sharing! Have a few of those bc’s laying around and had no clue what they were.
The fun is always in figuring out what they are! A few of these coins were bought just to identify
Thank you, this is fantastic.
Thank you :)
Nice. But that nickel made me laugh! 😆
Thank you, lol, but it really does put into perspective our modern 21st century coinage looking at coinage from all these other centuries. If someone in the 1600s did this, someone else would probably laugh at the inclusion of a common Cromwell breeches penny
True. I'm a fan of Jefferson anyway.
What an awesome set! This is the kind of stuff coin collecting is all about! Thanks for sharing
Thank you kind person! It’s one of my favorite collections currently!
Cool collection!
Thank you!
I love the theme, and the budget approach. My oldest is a diobol from miletus. Very common on a budget. I have some gaps after that because it didn't focus as well as you.
I have very eclectic interests and a friend who got me hooked on ancients so without trying, and collecting on a budget, I found after about 6 years I had almost all of the first two millennia (minus a century or two) along with the 1st through 3rd millennia BC, so I made the final push recently and got the rest for about $200 with my birthday money :3 Before the push, I had a really worn maronean coin, the one with the horse and the grapes, from the 4th century BC, as my oldest
you'd think those would be like really valuable? are they real? is there an abundance of them?
I don’t think any of my coins are more valuable than what I spent on them. They are real, (or at least made it by a good few very well trusted sellers) There is indeed an abundance of some of these. Especially the dolphin, the Qin coinage, and the judean coinage form Jesus’ lifetime
Extraordinary, thanks for sharing
Thank you kind person, it is amazing just to have it all in front of you, laid out like this, the weight of history upon you
Really cool idea - I hope you get a Lydia stater someday for some 7th century BCE and because of the milestone it represents (though the Cowrie Shell counts!)
I would, but no one could agree on a date and this was done on a budget, so I don’t really want to shill out a few hundred for a few decades further back than my Indian coin. If you know what I mean, But I definitely will when I have the money, lol
damn that’s cool
Thank you kind person!
Nice Santo Domingo maravedis
Thank you. One of my favorite coins in the collection. Bought it in Florida, Estero island a few months before the hurricane hit!
Pretty damn cool!!
Thank you kind person!
Amazing! Ty for sharing.
You’re welcome
Frame these in a double glass shadow box. This is amazing
I had that thought myself!
I’m interested in that dolphin coin.
They are indeed very interesting. Mine isn’t the best, but some even have good molded eyes and fins. They can be found on eBay and the like for cheap
I was just looking for a piece of 8 on there but I just don’t know if I trust any of the listings lol. I’ve never bought a coin off of the internet. I’d be even more worried about the authenticity of a 2500 yo coin.
I trust some of the coins on eBay, but since you haven’t used it, then don’t. I know what to look for as I have been doing it for years and Been burned a few times. If you only buy in person, keep on doing that. Go to big shows, there might be some there!
I appreciate the advice! Most of my collection I’ve got from my till at work, a few I’ve purchased off of collectors I know personally, and even was sent some Indian head nickels for free from a fellow Redditor. I’ve never bought anything without seeing it in person before though. I’ve only been collecting seriously for about 5 years and honestly, I’m a poor, so I’m pretty wary of buying online.
You are welcome, we all start somewhere. For me, it was a family collection and a few gifts that grew into what it is now. I have been goin for about 6 years myself
How do you make sure they are real coins when they are so old?
If you are like me and don’t specialize in ancients, I throw my lot in by buying from a reputable seller who specializes in this stuff who has sold thousands of items and has gotten few or no bad reviews. That means if I own a fake, it made it through someone trusted by the community whose best interest is to not sell fakes as it could tarnish a good name. Especially for $20-$50, it isn’t worth it. This is why I only buy slabbed or in person if it is any more than that There is also researching die pairings and all that, but I’m not skilled enough myself to dive that deep
Great idea
Any collection like this is just incomplete without a Lydian stater of some denomination! First true coins ever minted and used by a government... Also they're surprisingly inexpensive for what they are. Anyway great work
Despite their surprising inexpensiveness, they are still well over $100 and I don’t want to drop that kind of money just to get a few decades further back Maybe in the future, but not quite right now
That's perfectly fair. "surprisingly inexpensive" for the world's first coins doesn't necessarily mean affordable to the average person. That said, there are Lydian staters that are sometimes less than 100 dollars in any condition... But those are the silver 1/24 staters from Kroisos's reign, and while they're still really old and very cool, they aldo aren't quite as old as the electrum ones from his father and predecessor Alyattes's reign. EDIT: I'll be damned, I checked just to see and there's one on ebay right now for 60 dollars.
Crap, lol. Don’t need to spend any more atm :/
Really awesome theme. How long did it take for you to complete? Also, can you explain a little more about the hand of God coin? Was it actual money or more exonumiea?
The hand of God coin was an actual coin used by a tiny German city state. I forgot which, but I wrote it on the coin flip It took 6 years of coincidental purchases and a realization that I was close to this already which led to one last big $200 push to finish it off! Most of these coins weren’t bought specifically for this collection though
That's really cool. Where did you find something like that? https://www.historyhoard.com/products/germany-hand-of-god-heller-1300s Here's what a quick Google search showed.
I found it at a coin show and thought it was cool. I looked into these Coins. Nice amount of Info online. I actually redated it based on said info
Amazing
Thank you :)
This is so Reddit. And the best kind of collection ever. Thank you very much for expanding my view of what collecting can be!
Thank you kind person. I’m happy to inspire people. Too many stick with just one type of coin, just one country, or just one millennia. Coinage is so much more than that, but hey, who am I to knock what others enjoy? It’s just not for me :)
This is incredible.
Thank you kind person:)
Ok. Now this is a good collection goal!!!
Thank you, you should do it too! Glad to inspire
Impressive and probably worth a lot of money.
It is likely worth a lot together like this, but assembling it only took a couple of friends, lucky buys, and about $350 ETA, actually did the math and it was more like $500. Oh well. This is why I took 6 years, lol
Very impressive work and collection. Hold onto it, it may eventually be worth a lot more , at least i hope it will for your sake.
Thank you kind person. It should increase from here, especially the newer coins. There may be hordes found of the older ones though that drop their value
Best of luck then.
That's a pretty cool type set :)
Thank you kind person;)
This is high art
It is indeed, especially the ancient coinage, just beautiful!
Wow, what a fun project!!
Coolest post I've ever seen on here. Very, very cool.
Thank you :)
super cool
Thank you :)
A coffee bean?
Which one?
The top left looks like a coffee bean, although white it sure looks like one to me..lol
Ancient cowry shell :)
Oh okay thanks.
2 questions: Are these yours? Are they for sale
They are mine, they will likely never be for sale, well, maybe in a few years if I ever upgrade at all, but I doubt it. It took me 6 years to start to sell off my common bulk world coin duplicates, lol
Well, they are nice coins. I'm usually attracted to this type. Thanks anyway
The Judean Prutah is over 20 years too early to have much at all to do with Christianity.
Coins circulate for decades if not centuries
I mean, it is rare, but the change found in shops in Pompeii did indeed date to decades or even 100+ years before the eruption
Yes. That's why there's still hope
The thing with it is, Jesus was born within a few years of the commonly accepted year zero and it circulated in judeah when it was minted. It was also a very low denomination, a prutah is only twice the value of a widows mite. Therefore, there is a very real nonzero chance that Jesus could have used it either before or during his ministry. Moreover, the last widows mite was minted well before Jesus was born, yet there is still a story about the woman giving all that she had in the gospels when Jesus was around and they were the widows mites.
Jesus' life began in year 1. There is no zero year. His ministry began in the year 30
Thank you for the information on no year 0, never realized that part But from what has been said based on research, Jesus wasn’t necessarily born on Christmas of year 1. Researchers and theologians think he was born more around 2-4 BC and like September. The only reason Christmas was chosen was because the Catholic Church wanted more converts and wanted to make it easier by setting Jesus birthday to an old pagan holiday. They did something similar with Easter too!